Hoarding and clutter dangerously prevalent in Downtown Eastside

Excessive clutter is a serious health and fire hazard in Vancouver single room occupancy hotels, a UBC study published Thursday in the journal Housing Studies concludes.

Researchers, working to understand issues of hoarding and excessive clutter, used the city’s inspection data of single room occupancy (SRO) hotels from 2009 to 2013. They analyzed 226 inspections of 8,500 occupied rooms in the Downtown Eastside.

They found that seven per cent, or one in 14, were identified as “problematically cluttered,” which is defined as clutter that impedes free movement in the room, or where there is a health or fire hazard.

The figure is high given the percentage of excessive clutter issues in the general population is estimated to be between two and 5.8 per cent, lead researcher and UBC professor of psychology Sheila Woody said.

“It could be where you can’t functionally use the room. There might be a sink that you can’t get to or you can’t open the front door,” said Woody, noting while many of the cases relate to hoarding — a mental health issue — there are other reasons for excessive clutter.

“Even if you don’t have issues with collecting, by the time you get to be 60, you have a lot of stuff and those (SRO) rooms are the size of dorms that people live in in university.”

Woody said living in an SRO is one step up from being homeless, and the residents are vulnerable.

“If they are at risk of eviction (because of excessive clutter) or causing a fire hazard, we need to know about it.”

The study did not identify how many cases were a result of hoarding and how many were cases of excessive accumulation of belongings.

Excessive accumulation could be a result of someone having recently moved from a larger residence into a 300-square-foot room or the belongings of multiple people crammed into one tiny space. Hoarding, Woody said, is a complicated mental illness. People often won’t admit to having an issue or be able to see the clutter.

“People will tell themselves excuses like, ‘I can get in the door sideways’ or ‘I don’t need to use the kitchen,’” Woody said.

She hopes the study will raise more awareness, and cites the need for more resources and support for the city’s most vulnerable residents. She also says discussion is needed to end the stigma so more people who have issues with hoarding will talk about it or seek help.

“Stigma is a huge issue. Often people will think these people are lazy or just have poor housekeeping,” she said. “It is an emotional disorder where people have difficulty with decision making and a fear of letting go.”

The study found excessive clutter was most prevalent in larger buildings with more rooms. Researchers believe that may have to do with less support from landlords.

Problems can also arise from excessive clutter that accumulates more passively due to low motivation or ability to discard items.

For example, depression and dementia can involve apathy, and substantial clutter can develop, the study found. Also, a person with a physical disability can quickly accumulate a large volume of items most people would discard — such as newspapers or used food containers.

Woody plans to do more research into hoarding behaviour. She is seeking volunteers who have problems with hoarding to be part of her team’s research at the University of B.C.